japan running news

by Brett Larner Little-known Abraham Kiplimo  became the first Ugandan winner in the 63-year history of the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon , taking four minutes off his best to outrun two of Japan's best marathoners of 2013 for the win in 2:09:23.  Tokyo-area club runner Haruka Yamaguchi  (AC Kita) joined him in the books with the women's win in 2:41:56. In the almost complete absence of Beppu-Oita's usual wind, thick fog blanketed the course for most of the race.  After irregular pacing for the first 10 km things settled down near the mid-2:08 target pace with a large pack of over twenty men up front.  With a 2:08:00 at last year's Tokyo Marathon making him Japan's fastest marathoner last year, Moscow World Championships marathon team member Kazuhiro Maeda  (Team Kyudenko) was the favorite, but at 25 km he became the race's first major casualty as he gradually lost touch with the pack.  Top-ranked first-timers Ryo Kiname  (Team Mitsubishi Juko ...

by Brett Larner As in past years, Rikuren selected top male and female finishers from this year's Jitsugyodan Half Marathon corporate championships to run in the 2009 Great Scottish Run half marathon in Glasgow, Scotland on Sept. 6. Leading the way with a 3rd place finish in the women's race was 2008 Shanghai Half Marathon winner Megumi Seike (Team Sysmex). 2009 Miyazaki Women's Half Marathon winner Maki Suzawa (Team Kyocera) was 5th in 1:18:24. Caroline Cheptonui Kilel of Kenya took the women's race in a solid 1:09:03. In February Kilel took the stage best honors on the third leg of the final Yokohama International Women's Ekiden before crashing in March's Nagoya International Women's Marathon. A sizeable Japanese contingent in the men's race also took four of the top ten spots, with Naoki Okamoto (Team Chugoku Denryoku) the best Japanese man in 5th. Former Team Honda ace Hailu Mekonnen of Ethiopia was the runner-up in 1:01:29, ten seconds behind ...